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E. S. DAVENPORT.

SHOE SOLE PROTECTOR.

APPLICATION man 02c. l7. ms.

1,316,020. Patented Sept. 16, 1919.

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SHOE-SOLE. PROTECTOR;

Specification ofLetters Patent. Patented Sept, 16, 1919.

Application filed December 17, 1918: Serial No. 267,138.

certain new and useful Improvements in Eahoe-Sole Protectors of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the class of shoe sole protectors and has. for its primary object to provide a means whereby that portion of the shoe sole receiving the most wear is effectively guarded. Everyone wearing any style of flexible soled boot or shoe has experienced the great inconvenience, waste of possible wear, and expense of having to continually repair shoe soles which have worn thin at the one particular spot on such sole over which the greatest pressure of the foot of the particular. wearer is exerted in Walking. My invention is designed to be applied to that portion of a shoe sole receiving the greatest wear, thereby protecting that portion, thus distributing the wear over the entire sole and thereby greatly lengthening the life of such sole. The device is so designed as to enable the stamping out thereof from a flat blank of thin sheet metal or any other like material, and is so cut out as to make it very flexible and applicable to any portion of the shoe sole at the will of the user, and thus designed presents an article very cheap and inexpensive, which eifectively guards any portion of the shoe sole where it may be applied and which in no wise hinders the pliability of the shoe sole.

With other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the invention includes novel details of construction, all of which will be pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an inverted perspective view of a shoe with my invention shown as operatively applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a detail plan view of the preferred form of my invention.

Fig; 3 is a detail cross section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a detail plan view of a modified construction of my device.

Fig. 5 is a similar view of a further modification.

In the practical manufacture of my invention the same will be stamped out of a rectangular blank 1 of sheet metal or similar suitable substance. to provide for y S. DAVEN- sjfthe flexibility of the article the finished product is constructed asfollows: A .plu

rality of closely'related equidistanced .zig-

zag members 2 are provided merging at their endswith rounded end portions 3, the apex of each of such rounded portions terminating in a prong or fastening member l adapt ed to be bent down as indicated by the dotted lines in Figs. 2 and 4 and as shown in Fig. 1, and driven into the shoe sole 10 and clenched as illustrated in Fig. 3. At this center of the rounded ends is stamped a large aperture 5 which helps greatly in affecting the resiliency and flexibility of the device. To better facilitate the positive fastening of the device to the shoe sole, I pro vide in cooperation with the end prongs 4: small aperture 6 in each of the rounded ends 3 adjacent said prongs through which nails are driven and also the ends of the straight end members 20 are provided with prongs 40 and small holes 6.

The device thus constructed provides a shoe" guard member readily adaptable to any portion of the shoe sole, where most needed and when positively fixed thereto works to accomplish all the purposes and benefits of a guard against the wearing oi the sole in that particular spot, does not in any way hinder the flexing of the sole and is in nowise unsightly and being made of very thin material with no upturned edges cannot injure carpets or floors over which the wearer walks. The inwardly merging cut out portions 00 and the large apertures 5 provide for the resiliency and flexing of the surface to make the device as effective as though it were a solid metal plate and at the same time does away with the disadvantages of such a plate, namely,it will be readily ascertained that a solid plate of any appreciable length would lack the resiliency necessary and if fastened by V shaped prongs will tend to pull out at the ends and on returning to normal the ends will hold away from the sole and present a destructive bottom to carpets and floors to say nothino of the discomfort to the wearer. it

The construction of the invention may be modified in accordance with Fig. i, that is, omitting the small nail aperture and using the prongs or vice versa, as in Fig. 5.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it is thought the complete construction, operation and advantages of my inven tion Will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

What I claim is:

1. A shoe protector formed as a flat, metal plate composed of a series of long narrow transverse sections joined end to end and provided With means at the ends for rendering the same flexible in use and having means at the said ends whereby the protector can be fastened to a shoe said sections lying close together.

2. A shoe protector comprisinga series of flat metal bars arranged in zig-zag order, adjacent bars beingconnected at one end and diverging slightly from the connections, and-provided with a large aperture at the place of connection to render the connection flexible and means by which the bars may be fastened to the shoe sole.

EDWARD S. DAVENPORT.

I Gopiee of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Emerita.

Washington, D. G. 

